"She threw acid at me because she was jealous"

In the first video interview, Mark can be seen laying in a hospital bed at Southmead Hospital, with burns visible on his exposed chest.

Responding in strained, almost inaudible tones, he first confirmed he is a Dutch national.

He said he and Wallace had lived in a rented flat in Ladysmith Road for five years.

Mark said he arrived at the flat around 6pm on the night in question and just Wallace was there.

He told police he was in bed, asleep, when Wallace woke him up and said: “If I can’t have you, no-one can.”

He recalled there being a square plastic box with an inch of acid in.

“I was wearing just boxer shorts,” he told police.

“She threw acid. I was crying ‘Help!’ I was running in the street. Neighbours took me into a house and called police.”

He said Wallace bought the acid online.

He was adamant the acid was in a 20cm by 20cm plastic box, some 10cm to 15cm deep.

When Mark was asked why Wallace threw acid at him he replied: “It was because she was jealous.”

14:08

Jury watches two interviews Mark gave police from his hospital bed

Welcome back, the case is about to resume.

Mr Vaitilingam is about to play video interviews police had with Mark van Dongen from his hospital bed on July 6 and July 28, 2016.

12:55

Case adjourned until 2pm

Welcome back. The judge has now adjourned the case until 2pm.

12:18

Jury takes a break

The jury has been given a break until 12.40pm.

12:16

“An open mind please, members of the jury"

Mr Smith said the evidence will show Mark and Wallace had spent the previous evening together, having said they loved each other.

But as the night unfolded things went wrong.

Mr Smith told the jury they would hear evidence Mark was worried Berlinah was going to reveal things about his private life and feared she would blackmail him.

He said: “An open mind please, members of the jury. Calm, without emotion, it might not be the way that it seems.”

Mark Van Dongen, 29, who died 15 months after a suspected acid attack

12:11

“There are two sides to every story.”

Richard Smith QC, defending, made an opening speech introducing his case to the jury.

He told them: “There are two sides to every story.”

Mr Smith said right at the heart of the case was his client throwing acid over Mark.

He told the jury it was her case that she thought that water was in the glass, not acid.

Very often at night Mark would leave her water to help with her medication, the court heard.

Mr Smith said it was the defence’s case that their relationship had hit such a low that on this night Mark had left Wallace acid to drink.

“He planned to make her suffer, not him,” Mr Smith said. “If that’s right his plan has gone horrendously wrong.”

He said the couple were physical to each other and both made claims about abuse from the other.

Mr Smith said: “This wasn’t one-way traffic.”

When Mark began seeing another woman emotions wavered on both sides, the court was told.

12:03

Wallace searched online for “Can I die from drinking sulphuric acid?”

Wallace told police Mark assaulted her and had prodded her in the area of her anus with his toe.

She said she threw what she thought was water over him, it turned out to be acid, and he ran out of the flat.

She did not ring 999.

Police discovered Wallace had bought the acid online and had searched online: “Can I die from drinking sulphuric acid?” and has looked at graphic images of people who had suffered such attacks.

Berlinah Wallace

11:59

He screamed: “Kill me now, if my face is going to be left looking like this, I don’t want to live.”

Rachel Oaten, an emergency doctor, found Mark badly burned to his face and body.

He screamed: “Kill me now, if my face is going to be left looking like this, I don’t want to live.”

He stayed at Southmead Hospital for 14 months, having suffered 25 per cent burns to his body.

For some months he could only move his tongue, but was permanently paralysed from the neck down and sometimes said he wanted to die.

Eventually, in November 2016, he was transferred to a Gloucester care home but told his dad he wanted out.

He was then taken to hospital in Belgium and applied for euthanasia, which was granted on January 2 last year.

11:54

When asked what injured Mark she said: “Acid. I was using it to distress some fabric.”

Wallace was asked what substance injured Mark and she: “Acid. I was using it to distress some fabric.”

She indicated to the glass, cloth and paintbrush on the floor.

The court heard she said the acid was in the kitchen and she went to a cabinet and showed them a clear plastic bottle that looked about one quarter full.

Wallace acknowledged it was sulphuric acid.

She was calm and quietly spoken and was arrested and taken into custody.

In the ambulance, when Mark was screaming in pain, he asked: “Please check that my girlfriend is OK” - asking about Violet, the Crown says.

Police checked on Violet’s safety.

Former Bristol University student Mark Van Dongen

11:44

'It looked like he had grey paint poured over him'

Neighbour Thomas Sweet rang 999 when he saw Mark in the street.

He took Mark to a neighbouring flat and put him in the shower.

Paramedics arrived at 3.06am and could see he had severe burns.

It looked like he had grey paint poured over him, and he kept saying he couldn’t see and asked if he still had eyelids.

He was taken by ambulance to Southmead Hospital.

Police went to Wallace’s flat and found her sitting on their living room sofa.

There was a glass beer mug on the floor next to a piece of cloth and what appeared to be an artist’s paintbrush.

11:43

Wallace claimed Mark abused her and called her names

Mark gave two interviews with police a year after the attack and said he and Wallace had argued.

There is evidence that Wallace messaged UWE, saying she wouldn’t be doing her course anymore and that she had been abused and called names by Mark and he made her feel she was “not good for anything in this life”.

Mark said Wallace had left the flat, saying she was going to a hotel.

But he recalled her waking him up and saying: “If I can’t have you no-one else can” and throwing acid in his face.

He said he was sleeping in his boxer shorts and recalled how the acid was in a square plastic box with about an inch of the substance in it.

The Crown say it was actually in a glass.

Mark Van Dongen, 29, who died 15 months after a suspected acid attack

11:41

Mark felt he had a duty of care towards Wallace

The Crown has retrieved phone records showing calls and texts relevant to the case, in the form of a 33-page document.

By September 23, the court heard, Mark was planning to try and make his relationship with Wallace work.

Mr Vaitilingam said Mark told his friend Violet he was concerned about Wallace, she was self-harming and he felt guilty about the situation and felt he had a duty of care towards her having been with her for five years.

Around 10pm he left Violet’s flat and went to Wallace’s flat.

Mr Vaitilingam said: “What was it that led to her attacking him with the acid just a few hours later?”

Former Bristol University student Mark Van Dongen

11:19

Mark told workmates Wallace was violent

September 2 was the day Wallace ordered a bottle of sulphuric acid, the court heard.

She told police she bought it due to a smell from drains in the flat.

Mark told his workmates about his difficulties with Wallace.

He told Colin Evans Wallace had claimed she had miscarried, and they stayed together.

Mark said Wallace was violent, had attacked him and threatened to kill herself and he had moved out.

Mark was so scared of her he asked Mr Evans to collect a printer from Wallace’s flat.

11:16

Wallace warned about harassment

On September 2 Mark called police, very upset and concerned about Wallace’s behaviour.

She was trying to persuade him to make contact with her and messaged him that a friend of theirs had had a heart attack.

Mark wanted police to get involved and stop Wallace harassing her.

He spoke to an officer called Katie Bettel, and showed her Wallace’s messages.

He said he only stayed with Wallace out of pity, as she suffered from depression and had threatened suicide.

Police warned Wallace under the Protection from Harassment Act, the court heard. She denied making silent phone calls, but was clearly upset and crying.

She said she was desperate to speak to Mark and couldn’t understand why he didn’t want contact.

She was warned that any future contact was likely to amount to harassment and result in her arrest.

11:13KEY EVENT

Mark had euthanasia, but Crown say he was murdered

The court heard Mark’s condition improved a little and he regained the power of speech, though never the ability to move.

But 15 months later he asked a Belgium-based euthanasia clinic to assist him in taking his own life.

He was examined by three consultants who confirmed it was a case of unbearable physical and psychological suffering, despite maximum medical support.

They agreed the test for euthanasia was met and on January 2 last year they inserted a catheter into his heart, which brought about his immediate death.

As a result Wallace faces two charges: murder and applying a corrosive fluid.

It is the Crown’s case that Wallace deliberately threw acid at Mark, intending to cause him serious harm.

She admits throwing it, but denies any intent to cause him harm.

She says she believed she was throwing water over him.

The Crown says that the physical and mental suffering that Mark sustained from a deliberate attack with sulphuric acid were what drove him to euthanasia.

Put simply, he could not bear to live in that condition and, if that is right the Crown say, Wallace is guilty of murder.